After two very successful Los Angeles screenings, it's time for ATTACK THE BLOCK to infiltrate a theater near you.

The enthusiasm for Joe Cornish's sensational first film, about a group of inner-city kids fighting off a full-scale alien invasion, has been growing steadily since its debut at last March's SXSW festival in Austin. Predictably, it's gotten to the point where skepticism is beginning to creep in. Genre fans keep asking me "Is it really as good as everyone says it is?" In most cases, I'd caution folks to temper their expectations. With ATTACK THE BLOCK, that isn't necessary. At all. 'Cuz this film is the motherfucking goods, bruv.

Because we're so confident in this film's crowd-pleasing potential, AICN (along with HitFix, Badass Digest, Slashfilm and Collider) has locked down twenty-five theaters in twenty-five cities for a nationwide (and Canada!) sneak preview of this sci-fi/horror instant classic. It all goes down May 25th, and if you're anywhere in the vicinity of the below cities, all you have to do is click this link right this instant to get your tickets! It's first-come/first-serve, so get on it!

Here are the lucky twenty-five cities...

New York City

Chicago

Atlanta

Detroit

San Francisco

Boston

Philadelphia

Washington D.C.

Miami

Dallas

Denver

Seattle

Minneapolis

Cleveland

Kansas City

Houston

San Diego

Phoenix

Sacramento

Orlando

Baltimore

Pittsburgh

St. Louis

Toronto

Vancouver

This is a one-night-only event. Either see it now, or wait until the lovely folks at Screen Gems deigns to deliver this great motion picture to the masses. My advice: allow it.

Same with that army doll movie. They're just really bad titles that will alienate people.
Attack the Block is WAY too vague. It sounds like a call to attack something. Like "Attack the enemy!"
Even if people get around that and come to the conclusion that it's referring to someone else attacking something...what are they attacking? A block? Like stacking blocks?
And if people put all this together that it's referring to an outside source attacking a city block....how does something attack a block? Bombing it? Why are they only attacking that one block and not the rest of the city?
Just an amazingly retarded title.

And what exactly is doing the attacking.....the block? Or is the block being attacked....in which case it should be "attack on the block". The image it creates is of a large baby putting one of its blocks in its mouth.

Like I said, the trailer makes the film itself look like a lot of fun.
I'm not "wrong" about the title being shit...because it IS. Sorry, I have a marketing background so things like this really stick out to me.
The title of a film should give you an intrigueing glimpse into what it's about. How in the holy FUCK can you go from "Attack the block" to "smartass urban kids resisting an alien attack"?

Just never had an interest in doing so. It is at least an intrigueing title. I knew it was a film about runners racing each other and chariots were used for racing so it's not that far-fetched to see the metaphor. I really don't see that as a valid point since Chariots of Fire was at least marketed as sort of an art film so having a metaphor in the title makes sense.
"Attack the Block" is not a metaphor. Nor is it an art film.
A more appropriate title might be "The Alien Slayers of 9th Avenue". From this title you get:
- It's about an alien invasion
- It takes place in an urban environment
- It's about a specific group of characters
- It's a comedy

The only good thing about that movie was the score by Vangelis. The rest of the movie apart from the running was just a bunch of English dudes sitting around and hangin' out. <p>
"Mmmm, this is a good salad, innit? Lots of to-mottoes. I like to-mottoes. Taste real nice, innit? Can you pass me the carrots?"

They are more in the Ali G vein. I really can understand the concerns people are having from the trailer, but TRUST, the humour is not silly - these kids are badass, the aliens are genuinely fantastic and thus film is funny as fuck

Aluminium is spelt 'aluminum' in The States, ergo, the 'pronunciation' is correct as far as the US is concerned, but the 'spelling' is different. This is nothing to do with 'accent' which is more nuanced and subtle. Please get your facts straight when making jingoistic insults, so I can feel appropriately embarrassed at being British.

Attack The Block
Thor
Xmen
Meeks cuttoff
Super 8
Sweetgrass
and on and on
Which should i save for bluray dammit!? I need a job, a job where you don't have to encounter other people all that much and that pays more than benefits, never mind if you end up doing the same amount of work in the end to get your money!

Yes it is. And aluminum is pronounced aluminum.
Read about the naming of the element. Davy wanted it to be called "alumium". He then decided he wanted it to be called "aluminum" instead, and finally "aluminium". It had already been registered as "aluminum" in North America by the time he made his final change in the UK, and the two different names stuck in their respective places.

Because that's what Independance Day means, repelling the invaders.
Not to say that it couldn't also be the name of a coming-of-age teen comedy too, but ID4 had MASSIVE publicity. It's not a fair comparison at all because I'm trying to convey that tiny little films like this need to market themselves so people want to see it.
It also sounds like it's a language difference thing as well. Notice how Assault on Precint 13 was not titled Assault the Precinct....because that would be retarded.
See how that sounds like a command? See how it implies you should be on the side of whomever is doing the assaulting? See how it makes no sense what-so-fucking-ever? Yeah.
In America a block is the area between 4 crossing roads. It sounds like in the UK it means a row of houses. Either way it's stupid but I guess it sounds correct to Brits.
It sounds bizarre and stupid to Americans. Ergo...retarded.
And for the inventers of the english language you sure don't know how to pronounce it.
The word is "right". Notice the "t" at the end. It is not pronounced "roih". You all seem to have a real problem pronouncing the "t"'s at the end of words. For example, you will say "Roih ah tha time" instead of "Right at the time". Don't believe me? Say it out loud. Yeah.
And by the way, write for the edit and bobo agree about the title, so it's not just me.

The fuck did that come from? My family moved to Australia about 20years ago but I refused to leave America as a matter of fact. Not that it has fuck-all to do with anything but try explaining that to braindrain.

Fuck me, you really are an ignorant little shit ... A block of flats is a tower block! ... Like the massive one on the fucking poster for the movie! I guess they put it there so dense cunts would not get too confused.

What do Brits call the square area between 4 crossing roads?
Reminds me of when I went to London and a guy came up and asked me if I had a quid.
I asked him to repeat it before saying "Do I have a squid? Why the fuck would I have a squid?"

Ohhhhh, did I hurt your feelings?? ... When I read shit like "It sounds bizarre and stupid to Americans. Ergo...retarded" I don't tend to bother with manners too much. Don't cry, education is a good thing.

Can mean a block of flats or (as in North America) a chunk of city bounded by four roads in a roughly rectangular shape.
You seem to be a bit inconsistent in your position. You say that Attack the Block is a bad name, but that Independence Day is fine as a name because of all the marketing clarifying what the film was about. So, really, the name is irrelevant, and the marketing is the key factor.

"The word is "right". Notice the "t" at the end. It is not pronounced "roih"."
As you've never been to the UK, you won't know that this is a feature of only one subset of accents, specifically working class east end London and "estuary English" around the southeast.
On the other hand, almost ALL Americans mispronounce Ts as Ds in the middle of words when flanked by vowels, e.g. saying "Briddish" instead of British, and "wahdder" instead of water. (The interesting exception to this is in Hawai'i.)
But it's okay. We don't mind. We enjoy different accents and dialects. We're used to them, and they're fun.

What gets me is the ignorant attitude ... Whatever happened to basic general fucking knowledge?? .... I know what City blocks are, I know that Americans call flats apartments, I know what the truck of a car is ... I didn't research the damn stuff its just common knowledge. But spin it around and you get cretins like fett saying "It sounds bizarre and stupid to Americans. Ergo...retarded." ... Fucking ignorant.

a PC way to say 'rides the short bus?"
If so, do you sit near braindrain?
Help the little 'fella' out once in a while,
the younger kids always take his lunch money!
And, he's trying to save up for a full scale
model of Joss Whedons 'nutsack',
something about wanting to erect a shrine . . .

For all the reasons I stated that you choose to ignore. Attack the Block doesn't make any sense, again for all the reasons I stated, some of them cultural.
I didn't say the name has to describe the whole plot did I? No, I didn't. I said it should an intrigueing representation of what the film is about. Independance Day fits that bill perfectly. Attack the Block doesn't make sense to westerners culturally because we don't call our buildings blocks. It's also just grammatically awkward because there's no personal pronoun.
Independance Day has deep cultural meanings in the US. As I SAID BEFORE can assume it is a story about repelling invaders. It shows us the theme and resonates with cultural meaning.
"Attack the Block" is just a fucking nonsense. phrase.
Man some of you people are fucking THICK! You need your fucking hand held for the simplest things.
Through all these fucking essays I've been trying to guide you through all I'm trying to say is that when you hear the term "Attack the Block" it means fucking NOTHING. DUH! So how can you get interested in something that means fucking NOTHING?
You KNOW this, you're just being stubborn because you abnsolutely refuse to believe there could even be the SLIGHTEST issue with your new love.
Check out the new film Spooning the Drift. Don't worry, it will make sense once you've paid admission and are watching the film.
But hey, if it's a smash fucking success I'll eat my words.
Fat chance of that shit.

How is it any more difficult to understand than "Boyz n the Hood"? How would that make ANY sense without any degree of cultural context?
Does it make sense once you've watched the film? Absolutely.
Do you have to be American to understand the meaning behind the title after viewing the movie? Absolutely not.

I'd like to think most Americans will get it pretty straight up. Block. As in Block of Flats. A turn of phrase for a movie title. "What? What is this Movie!? This Bizzare Curioso that dare use a word, AND a turn of phrase I'm not instantly familiar with!? That my brain has to take all of say 30seconds to discover the meaning of, and all of another 30 to process and store there subsequently!? Who the fuck is inclined to go watch a film along with these basic requirements!? Who the hell wants to watch a film for anything more than it title for that matter, christ sakes!? Why!? Why would it do that to me!? To hell with it, with the trailers, the magazine articles, the internet spots, word of mouth, which usually help me form an impression of a film in the slightest before deciding if i will go see it! To Hell with this Arcane Twisted Brain melting title of a Movie! Fuck this movie! I won't see it!"
Let me explain for you. Attack. The. Block. The Kids used to attack people on the block or the surrounding estate at least in some sense for money and fronting/rude boy purposes. Now they defend said block from an Alien Invasion-Attack. It fits in also with a pulpy horror-sci fi title. That's it.

And what they HAVE heard is "Attack the Block", which makes no fucking sense! So when they are looking at the list of films on the marquee of their local cinema, they'll skip right on by Attack the Block because it is COMPLETELY FUCKING MEANINGLESS!
Christ on a fucking crutch are you one daft mother fucker!
You wanna bet how much money it will make? It should RAKE the shit in right? Becuase the title doesn't fucking matter RIGHT?
cocksucker.

So if the title makes way more sense after you see a movie it fails? Apocalypse Now? The Crying Game? 12 Monkeys? The Prestige? 28 Days Later? Goodfellas? Raging Bull? I mean I can keep goin if you want, man... But come on, a title is suppose to intrigue or be a representation, not explain everything you are about to see. Honestly, Attack the Block made more sense to me before seeing the film than most of the movies mentioned above, before I saw them. If you don't like the title, that's cool, because that is what we call an 'opinion.' Here is a tip that will help you be more liked as you make your journey through life: not everyone will have the same opinion as you, and if you can teach yourself to think more objectively, you will see that differing opinions make the world a far more interesting place. Good luck, buddy.

Years ago I dated a girl whose parents were British so I had a bit of the nomenclature down, but I would guess most Americans aren't that familiar with common British phrases due to a lack of exposure. (Painting with a broad brush, I know, but what is the internet for if not that)
Unless you are tuning in to BBC America regularly, the Queen's English doesn't really come up in most folks day-to-day.
That is less so now if you are a regular here since there are tons of Brits on the talkbacks. The uninitiated should be picking this stuff up just by reading the talkbacks. It is all right here on AICN.
Harry Knowles, bridging the culture gap one talkback at a time.
Salud!
**I mean it about Top Gear, I love that show (BBC version only, no others exist despite the nasty rumors tothe contrary) but I am an old gearhead (petrolhead) who likes speedy shiny things.

Wedding Bedding, Lovely Katie!
I went to see Hanna at the cinema...It wasn't the Hanna I was thinking of.
I saw Judge Dredd at the cinema....he wasn'a a proper high court judge
Although I do think In Bruges is pretty spot on for a description of a film...
Maybe the Rise of Fett has a point...oh hang on...Naahhhh! Pr1ck!

....it's ace. Very funny, well acted and deserving of many accolades for the slo-mo scene near the end if nothing else. Also Adam Buxton's cameo as the voiceover on the documentary on the TV is more prescient than you originally think...

...I'd like to apologize on behalf of Fett.
<p>
Actually, no, I don't. Fuck him.
<p>
Over the years he's taken up space on these boards as resident asshat-in-chief during certain periods. He's been banned more than most talkbackers and never fails to acquire vast hordes of talkbackers who flame him endlessly (and not only on this site). His inane flailing is legendary (as is his mullet) and his ability to cause normally sane talkbackers to lose their cool and verbally assault him until they get banned themselves is unprecedented.
<p>
This is a guy who complained that Dog Soldiers was "too British" and that they drank too much tea in the film, so his weirdly amero-centric take on film is nothing new.

Christ, how stupid are you? Are you actually that literal and contrary that you need everything spelt out for you in the title, but are willing to forsake this when the other marketing (like this one clearly does) partially explains it.
Chavs can be hoodies as well ckc1ne.

"Attack the Block doesn't make sense to westerners culturally because we don't call our buildings blocks."
Please tell me that sentence was intended as a joke.
Were you sacked from your marketing job?
Do you actually think that the term "westerners" distinguishes Americans from Brits?
(Stifles snigger.)
Anyway, listen up: as much as you might think it is so, the world does not revolve around the USA exclusively. Grow some cultural balls and learn a little about other places in the world. It really isn't hard. The primary requirement is not being an insular doofus. You think that people in British movies should change all their dialogue too, to accommodate your infantile attitude?
"Hey, Dave, I can't go Brighton this weekend because we had a pop quiz in math and I flunked it, so take all my stuff out of the trunk and leave it on the hood for me."
Puh-LEASE.
I know that Americans are not collectively stupid; I've met too many smart ones. But you are giving your country a bad name.

It's about the MOVIE. The title of the MOVIE does not make sense to Americans.
Now you can snark at that all you want but my point from the very beginning is that it's a stupid title IN AMERICA because WE DON'T USE THAT TERM!
That's like releasing some film from some obscure little country titled "snumbulet" and then scratching your head because people aren't lining up to see it. Then you can turn up your nose and say "Well then it's THE REST OF THE WORLD THAT'S STUPID because that word makes perfect sense in dumbfuckistan!"
Why do english films get retitled for other countries? Why do they get dubs and subtitles? Should we just tell them they are fucking stupid and to learn fucking english? And we won't give a fuck if nobody goes and sees them because it's their fault right?
Typical smug lobsterback cocksucker.

But that has nothing to do with the title of this film or my thinking it is not appropriate for an American audience.
Also I do not, not have I ever had, a mullet.
Here's the problem, some of you little geeks get all revved up about a movie so you come here or elsewhere to verbally masturbate to it with others.
Someone inevitably brings up an issue with the film and that's when you start crying. At that point you start shoveling in all kinds of shit that has nothing to do with the topic.
Attack the Block will fucking bomb. You know it. I know it.
Now go put some salve on that bleeding anus of yours and start the healing.

My first thought when I saw the trailer for this movie was, 'why make a movie about hoodie scum being heroic?' Hoodies run amok here in (not so) Merry England, I want movies in which geeky dudes, and dudettes, stand up against these out of control purveyors of anti social behaviour. I changed my mind when I discovered it was written and directed by Joe Cornish.
I watched Attack The Block this morning, and it's bloody good fun, reminiscent, kinda, sorta, of Eighties classic (?) Critters, but thoroughly English, hoodies, chavs, inability of characters to get their grubby mitts on handguns, or machine guns, nasty council estate blocks, bikes three times smaller than the rider, Staffordshire Bull Terrier (?) the symbolic canine of England (these days) teens looking like ninjas.
It's always good to see a slice of England in a movie, what with England's movie industry being, almost, non existent, especially when said Englander movie is so well done.

Your idiotic idea that because it's featured in the poster somehow psychicly tells us that buildings are called "blocks" where you live is testament to your hollow skull.
Just wondering if you see the irony of saying the world doesn't revolve around America while you spend every day posting on an American web site. Shit you're probably scarfing a Big Mac right now, ha ha. Just so you know Big Macs taste a FUCK of a lot better here because our beef is phenominally superior than yours. Great Britain: Worst food in the fucking world!

"Great Britain: Worst food in the fucking world"
Really? You don't like chicken tikka masala?
Oh, I bet you thought that was Indian. (Shakes head.) Uh-uh. British.
Britain has a bad rep for food in the US because it was the first nation to industrialize and then it suffered from the after-effects of WWII and rationing longer than most western countries. The modern UK has some of the best food in the world. Why do you think the best TV chefs are British? Saying the UK has terrible food is like saying all Canadians live in igloos and all Americans chew gum and have teeth too big for their mouths - just something you heard once and enjoyed because it's fun to denigrate people who aren't you and bask in the comparative glow. It's total bullshit, however.
Why am I talking to you, anyway? I have no idea. You're just some clueless dick who's never left his own state.

Worst food in the fucking world. Your beef is fucking abhorent. Which is very odd considering Scottish beef is excellent.
And the best chefs are in France for your information and that's where the British chefs study.

British beef isn't very good, it's true. We don't have the optimal grazing land for it. Canadian and Australian beef is much better, and US is pretty decent too.
On the flipside, British lamb is excellent; it's a meat that is very underrepresented in the US. (Much tastier meat than beef imo.) Your problem is that you went looking for the wrong thing in the UK: you rolled up and tried to eat the same stuff you would eat in the US. (How unsurprising.) Would you go to Japan, eat their hamburgers and declare that Japanese food was rubbish compared with the US? (Yeah, you probably would.)
Here's some education for you.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/british-cuisine-the-third-best-in-the-world-say-restaurant-judges-445830.html

Only joking, like misspelling your name above. It's that dry English humour you hear about. I really don't mind either way. Too be honest I find you hilarious, like one of those little yapping dogs that chases their tail around, around that you see on America's Funniest Home Videos.
I would love to banter more, but I actually have some meaningful stuff to do.
Regardless of how you feel about the title I still hope you do go see Attack the Block. I think it's aimed at people like you and you'll probably enjoy it a lot.
Laters

I didn't say BAD teeth. I said teeth too big for their mouths.
This is actually the legacy of overzealous orthodontic practices in the US until the early 90s. (I know this because I used to date an orthodontist.) In the US the emphasis used to be purely on straightening the teeth irrespective of how that would affect the shape of the jaw and the head. It's why you see lots of people like Tony Robbins in the US (in the 30-60 age group) whose mouths were reshaped by orthodontic work that left them with a weirdly-shaped chin and an elongated face. Different techniques were adopted in the 90s that take a more holistic approach to realigning the teeth.

The ONLY good food I had my entire stay there. I went back again and again although it's not served on fucking newspaper here because ink is poisonous so you probably shouldn't smear it on your food.
I also liked the pidgeon park, I don't remember what it's called but part of American Werewolf in London was filmed there, and several other movies of course.
Then I heard you poisoned all the pidgeons. (sigh)

What the fuck is that?
Oh, you mean black pudding? Nobody eats that except old men in Lancashire.
But I hear Americans eat grits and cornbread served in a bowl of Coca-Cola, for every meal. How can you stand that?

Why do you have such a weird hate-on? Were you dumped by a British boyfriend a few years back or something?
People who try to puff themselves up by attacking another group of people rabidly are usually fucked-up, bitter underachievers.

I think that's some type of urban legend.
As for my trip, it was awhile ago, a week or two before 9/11.
We stayed at the Chiswick hotel, which had virtually no water pressure despite being a ritzy place. We actually had to pump the fucking toilet to get it to flush and showers were impossible.
We also had cable in out room...all 13 channels of it. And we had it on our glorious 19" TV.
*shakes head* Fucking unbelievable.

"I went back again and again although it's not served on fucking newspaper here because ink is poisonous so you probably shouldn't smear it on your food."
Oh, riiiiight. Now I understand. You visited the UK in the early 80s. (That's the last time anybody served chips in newspaper there.)
Okay, that explains quite a lot. The UK was a pretty grotty place in the 70s through to the mid-80s.

(Sniggers.)
You stayed just down the M4 from Heathrow Airport?
I'm starting to get a better idea of this "UK trip" of yours.
Yeah, I visited New York City once. Awful. Honestly, that Nassau Expressway is a horrible place to live, and there were planes taking off and landing the whole time.

Was this the fish shop for pedophiles?
I think you mean kitty-corner.
And I VERY much doubt that they were serving food in real newspaper. They would have been shut down for violating health and safety regulations.

Some places serve F'n'C in fake newspaper just to make it look "traditional". (Looks newspaper-like but is just a bunch of bogus stories and photos repeated.) You were probably confused by that. They are not allowed to serve it in real newspaper.

Did you have the chance to visit our "victorian" hospitals, and the horrors of childbirth?
Did your legs bow with ricketts?
Good god man, you make the United Kingdom sound like a hole for neanderthals!! Yes we have civilisation here, and we all love Lucy I assure you!!
And where exactly do you come from again? A testtube?

didn't plan to go and see this despite being a big cornish fan. the player broke down on thor so i got a refund and a freebie - nice.
I think by the end i was supposed to feel for the kids but unfortunately i thought moses was a cunt at the beginning and still cunt at the end.
rrrrrrrrrispek!!!!!!!

Probably a ginger with freckles all over your sickeningly mutated face with your fucking giant red gums and lips that can't quite hide your fucking horrifying snaggleteeth. And of course your skin is a moon-cratered disaster area of purple and puss.
*shudder*

...how come no other Americans are having trouble with the title? Is it because everyone else is dumber than you or smarter than you? If it's the former, then your argument fails because people are too dumb to know that they actually don't know what the word "block" means. If it's the latter, then you have to rethink your position since most Americans have a grasp of the word "block" whereas you do not. Why lower everyone else to your sad level of ignorance? Play some Trivial Pursuit, watch Discovery or read a book -- just do something about your pathetically anemic knowledge of the world. You're giving the rest of us a bad name.

Let me make it easy for you. During the Great Fettastic Riots of 2002-2003, he riled up talkbackers to the point where AICN staff stepped in and had several mass bannings of regular talkbackers because the flame wars against him were so intense and out of hand. There were talkbackers who loathed him so much that they hacked his username so they could post things like "I like to molest young boys" in his name.
<p>
Still pity him?

While writefortheedit's post hints at a bit of humor, bobo seems to be as cretinous as you.
<p>
Seriously, fett, don't you realize that YOU are a large part of the problem when it comes to the state of American movies these days? You bandy your background in marketing around like it's some sort of badge of honor, completely oblivious of how much people here despise your pimping of the lowest common denominator in order to sell movies. Instead of deploring the sad state of much of the American moviegoing public, you think the British filmmakers behind Attack The Block chose a "retarded" title. The only people who find that title retarded are paste-eating droolnoids like yourself and the people you pander to, you utter asshole.

The same guy who riled up talkbackers to the point where AICN staff had to step in and did several mass bannings of regular talkbackers because the flame wars against him were so intense and out of hand? I recall there were talkbackers who loathed him so much that they hacked his username so they could post things like "I like to molest young boys" in his name.
Crazy.

Be careful with the reviews as most are plants, but you can glean some very good information to make the most of your stay - and save money. And getting some advice from the lads here would help too. Can't get better advice than from someone who lives there.

Fucking moron.
Oh, and I fucking HATE to say this, but I'm a sad marketing lowlife as well, and on behalf of my profession (most of whom that I know detest it) wouldn't get so hung up on a perfectly reasonable title with accompanying explanatory artwork.
PS- doesn't most of the world have "Apartment blocks"? I'm sure there's a line in Candyman where she says it, and I know for a fact that a lot of Bay Area/ Sacramento hip-hop references "blocks".
This is the dumbest conversation that I've ever had.

So the film starts with the 'heroes' mugging a woman at knifepoint, then they become the 'heroes'...
Bummer if you are a victim of crime watching this.
ALSO, how come the aliens can dispatch police and armed drug dealers with ease, but some kids falling off thier bikes can escape with ease?
Fuck you AICN and you hype on this!!